Last week we attended the 2024 Dulux Colour Awards at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House.

We were pleased to have two projects shortlisted in the Commercial and Public Interior categroy; Aireys Inlet Primary School and Wangaratta District Specialist School…and even more thrilled to receive a commendation for Aireys Inlet Primary School!!!!

We are so pleased to have this small but mighty project recognised for its bold but thoughtful use of colour. The specific Dulux tones were chosen to reflect the natural bushland and coastal setting of the school. Located on the traditional lands of the Wadawarrung people and Gulidjan and Gadubanud peoples of the Eastern Maar, it was important that the building sat comfortably within its surrounds.

Read more about the project here.

The night was not complete without an obligatory photo with the Dulux dog! Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to Dulux for hosting such a special event and celebrating design through their awards.

Congratulations to Tope Adesina for being one of the recipients of this years Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 mentorship program!

We are excited at this mentorship opportunity for Tope, to connect with other young architects and industry experts over the next 12months.
At Sibling, Tope has had a strong hand in shaping many of our education and cultural projects. His experience in public art projects has contributed to a unique understanding of the perceptions of public space.

A man of many talents, Tope is also the man behind the camera, lending his keen and careful eye to the photographic documentation of a number of our recent projects.

Well done Tope!

We kicked off the year with exciting news: we were selected as recipients for the Creative Ventures grant funding!

Supported by the Victorian government, the Creative Ventures program provides two-year grants to small creative organisations to deliver a big impact.

Sibling received more than $180,000 in funding to support our research into sensorially-sensitive architectural design of spaces which cater to neurodivergent and sensorially diverse people.

This research has been a longstanding pre-occupation of Sibling, with earlier projects such as New Agency and Arts Project Australia establishing the groundwork for larger projects such as the recently completed Wangaratta District Specialist School.

We will be posting updates on our research as it unfolds, so keep an eye out on our socials.

A huge congratulations to Andrea and Isabella who were awarded the Christopher Procter research prize and David Lindner research prizes respectively!
The prizes were awarded at the 2023 NSW Australian Institute of Architects Honours and Awards celebration at the Ace Hotel, Sydney.

Andrea’s research is titled “Chinatowns are disappearing around the world – how can architecture ensure their future?”
Jury Citation:
Chinatowns around the world are unique cultural and urban spaces which make a rich contribution to our cities. Through the 19th and 20th century they became places to congregate for many migrants from China and Asia more broadly. They served as vibrant hubs of significant cultural and economic activity, attracting locals and tourists alike.

Changing demographics, post Covid-19 challenges of our inner cities combined with the virus’ origin in Wuhan have left Chinatowns across the globe struggling to regain that vibrancy. Andrea’s research will focus on San Franscisco’s Chinatown which is one of the largest and oldest of its kind. Her study will be about its distinct cultural, economic and physical characteristics, as well as which local renewal strategies may be translatable into an Australian context.

Growing up with regular visits to Sydney’s Chinatown and now working on its reimagination as an architect and urban designer Andrea’s proposal is personal and highly relevant. It meets the mission of the Christopher Procter prize to enable research and professional development with a focus on improving our cities.”

Andrea has also received a Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship to further her research into this topic, where she will travel to the US, Europe and South Pacific.

Isabella’s research is titled “Soft Spaces: Designing for Pain in the Public Realm.”

Jury citation:
Isabella’s submission brings to the fore the high proportion of Australian’s living with the invisible experiences of chronic pain and disease and how good design within our built environment should consider people living with these conditions.

Her proposal builds on her previous research into this topic, where she catalogued how public spaces affect people living with chronic pain. The David Lindner Prize will enable Isabella to continue this research through establishing a set of recommendations in the form of a practical guide for future public buildings and spaces to palliate the effects of chronic pain. This research will be strengthened through collaboration with nominated industry leaders in this space as well as medical professionals.

Through highlighting the statistics around chronic pain and the impact of our environmental conditions on this, the jury considered that Isabella’s work could be a very poignant topic within the architectural profession about how we design our spaces with empathy and inclusion.”

On 11^th May, Sibling attended the Dulux 2023 Colour Awards where our Darebin Intercultural Centre was crowned the winner of the Grand Prix prize!

“The deliberate avoidance of any recognizable cultural representation placed greater importance on the form and material palette, and we applaud the strong tie to the brief, achieved through the push and pull of colour and texture,” said the judges.

Read all about the win on ArchitectureAU, along with a list of all the other winners at the 2023 Dulux Colour Awards.

We are excited  to share that Stable House has received the prestigious Wilkinson Award at the AIA NSW Awards!

To be awarded the highest accolade for new residential architecture in NSW, and recognised amongst architects we deeply admire and respect is truly humbling. we are so grateful for the Jurors and all the team involved to make this project a reality!

Jury Citation:

Stable House is a small family home that pops with joy and colour. Sibling Architecture has created an incredibly adaptable house with an eye to the future, without losing sight of the past.

​It belies its small footprint, with a series of overlapping spaces, artful voids and curated views of greenery. The house weaves within the skin of the existing stable wall creating a delightful quality of natural light and depth of texture. The folded roof form is both a sensitive design response to neighbours and a delicate canopy of light.

​Central to the home is the kitchen. Designed with memories of extended family gathering around for meals – the space is perfectly proportioned to fulfil this function in a small footprint.

​Jurors agreed that the house is an inspirational model for how pockets of forgotten space in densely populated areas can be transformed into calm sanctuaries for living

We are thrilled to share that Arts Project Australia has received a Commendation for Small Project Architecture at the AIA Vic Awards!

This unique project for a wonderful client, Arts Project Australia, was completed during the pandemic; so it is great to see it be recognised for its clever use of space and uplifting design.

Jury Citation:

Small only in its scope and budget, Arts Project Australia achieves a lot with very little – leveraging its smallness with a humble material palette that cleverly references past utility, and by carving a new entry that meets requisite DDA compliance and provides a clear sequence of arrival and departure that was previously absent. In so doing, what was an underutilised car park is now transformed into a delightful undercroft that is immediately welcoming to both artists and the public.

Read more about the project here. 

Sibling director Dr Timothy Moore bunkered down during COVID to complete his PhD at the University of Melbourne, which investigated temporary projects within longer-term urban development. He traversed Amsterdam, Athens, Christchurch and Melbourne to evaluate how temporary architecture contributes experimentation, innovation and place-making to large-scale urban development projects, or how the pop-up has a legacy after it pops-down. This research has contributed to Sibling’s work in temporary-use, adaptive re-use and urban design, including the temporary ateliers at Beulah and Over Obelisk at the Vic Market. He has also written widely on the topic, including on The Conversation.

Two of our projects have been recognised at this years Dulux Colour Awards – Surfside Primary School and Rodda Lane!
Surfside Primary won the Commercial Interior – Public and Hospitality category, and Rodda Lane received a commendation in the Commercial Exterior category. Thank you to the jury for recognising both of these projects, not only for their inventive use of colour but also for their contribution to community and education.  The Dulux Colour Awards are in their 35th year and celebrate innovative use of colour through excellent design.

Pleased to have Rodda Lane recognised at the Inde Awards where it has been shortlisted in the Learning Space category. This project offers an alternative space within RMIT’s CBD campus for socialising and informal learning n an outdoor setting. New landscaping, urban infrastructures and material treatments give a bold and proud identity to this network of disparate laneways woven between campus buildings. Read more about the project here.